Sunday, September 22, 2013

Amalia's Art Deco Miami Beach Birthday

Granddaughter Amalia's second birthday was celebrated on August 25th in two cabanas of Miami Beach's art deco Raleigh Hotel with its famous swimming pool that seems to be perpetually waiting for Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire or Esther Williams to show up.

We tied some balloons to the palm trees so guests could find the party, but Amalia objected loudly to the balloons--not because she thinks they're too kitsch-y, but because she finds balloons scary.

She cheered up when a man named Bobby brought pitchers of lemonade and iced tea and red and white Sangria. That's Abuela Carmen on the right.

He also brought some pizza to the cabana. Amalia decided she would check it out.

It was so tasty that she ate the whole pizza before any of the guests arrived.

Amalia and the other little girls ignored the famous swimming pool and kept dipping water out of the pool with empty sangria glasses and pouring it on the sand so they could make sand castles.

Finally Mommy and Papi managed to lure Amalia into the pool to pose for a family photo.

Amalia was fascinated with one of her presents--a toy for making cakes and sweets out of play dough.

While the adults ate pizza and drank sangria, Amalia concentrated on the play dough.

Then Bobby brought some special ice cream that was a surprise sent by Amalia's Tia Marina who was in San Francisco and couldn't come to the party.

Then they brought the cake that Amalia had chosen with her Mommy from Epicure: it was alternating layers of chocolate and vanilla cake with strawberry mousse between the layers and butter cream frosting. What Amalia liked best was the confetti on top.

Everybody sang to Amalia as she dug into the cake for her first bite.

Everybody waited to see how she liked it.

But after one bite she abandoned the cake and the fancy ice cream and went back to nibbling on the play dough cupcake she had made.

When it started to get dark, Amalia knew it was time to say good-bye.

There were goody bags for the children.

And when she went home, there was another present -- a Dora tricycle that made noise and gave directions in Spanish and English. It was a surprise from Yiayia Eleni and Papi had assembled it.

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A Rolling Crone

After 40 years as a journalist, I turned 60 and decided to return to my first love--painting. I’ve exhibited watercolors and photographs in Massachusetts and have a slide show of paintings below. My photo book “The Secret Life of Greek Cats” can be purchased by clicking on the cover below.
I collect way too many things, but my great passion is antique photographs, from the earliest—daguerreotypes (circa 1840) up to 1900 (cabinet cards, tintypes.) I approach each one as a mystery to solve, and in unlocking their secrets have met some fascinating historic figures. For some of the stories, check the list of “The Story Behind the Photograph”.
My husband Nick and I live in Grafton, MA and recently celebrated our 41st anniversary. We have 3 children, now amazing adults. And on Aug. 26, 2011, we greeted our first grandchild, Amalía-- world’s cutest baby. But this blog isn’t about grandparenting (although photos of the grandkid sneak in). As it says up top, it’s about travel, art, photography and life after sixty. And crone power.